We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
Bruce Springsteen has just released an album of folk covers. Here are my thoughts on it.
It has been a long time since a Bruce Springsteen record has provoked such extremes of reaction from his fans, even before its release. His last album, Devils & Dust, wasn’t universally loved, but it was at least widely anticipated. Prior to that, The Rising’s combination of 9/11 reference and three-guitar rock attack ensured there was something good – though far from brilliant – for everyone. But We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions seems to have been the catalyst for an explosion of anger from a large number of fans who despair at the lack of original songwriting from Springsteen.
At the same time, there are those who, upon reading the press release, could hardly believe their luck. Here, at last, was the album which could prove what they’d been saying for years – that Springsteen was the natural heir to America’s folk tradition, handed down from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and now onto their man. All Springsteen had to do was choose his songs well, sing them as maybe only he could, and through his research and performance, display his knowledge of that folk tradition. Then his place as a true inheritor of the country’s cultural roots would be assured.
I am in the latter camp. I am a huge fan of Springsteen’s songwriting – but I have never thought that was all he had to offer. Randy Newman can write songs. Joni Mitchell can write songs. What Springsteen has always offered on top of the songs is his charisma, his feeling, and his joy. In The Seeger Sessions, those characteristics become uncoupled from his own songs, but they don’t founder without their artistic base - if anything, they are given a happy freedom and a fresh sense of belonging, and they flourish.
Sure – in the wrong hands these songs could be campfire singalongs, fit for nothing more than a jamboree with a bunch of acoustic guitars accompanying assorted campers playing out a rustic version of a scene from Easy Rider. But their original exponents – whether writing or performing – knew what they were doing with the songs, and so does Bruce Springsteen.
The impression given in Springsteen’s own liner notes is of him sitting around inexpertly doodling around a bunch of old songs, backed by a wily crowd of veterans who pat him on the back and let him have his hour of folk authenticity. The reality is probably somewhat less goofy. That he added lyrics to some songs and claims most of the arrangements as his own are testaments to the fact that he shaped the content of this record very carefully. And although he protests that he didn’t have an ideology in mind when making the record, this doesn’t detract from the political message he selects. Rather than poignant, utopian anthems like Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Springsteen chooses Mrs. McGrath – a much more pointed song, about a returning soldier who has had both of his legs blown off by a cannonball. Never mind the flowers – what did they do to my body? This is Springsteen’s political reality, and it still rings true.
Musically, Springsteen sounds equally in control. From the very beginning of the first track, Old Dan Tucker, two things are obvious. The first is that he is having the time of his life – witness the raggedy count-in, try to picture him singing the songs you hear with anything other than a smile on his face (it is difficult), and listen to the way he shouts out instructions for solos and instrumental passages. The other thing is that Springsteen owns these songs. No doubt these are experienced folk musicians, and they create a sound that is both knowledgeable and dense (no surprise – the band is awash with guitars, fiddles, accordions, and everything else you’d hope a hootenanny band would contain). But Springsteen’s voice rises above the band. Now, making him sound louder than the band is easy enough, but actually what we have here is something deeper – his confidence is unquenchable and his charisma drives his voice forward; and the voice, in turn, shapes the sound of the band – not the other way round.
Clearly, for Springsteen, this album is about having fun while making good and meaningful music. Nothing else matters – he displays his knowledge of the folk tradition, but that is the man – it is hard to imagine him going into any project without knowing his brief. But even if by accident, in recording this album he has done a good deal to place himself alongside Bob Dylan as an important American folk artist. The Basement Tapes came first, and they may have contained plenty of original songwriting, but The Seeger Sessions is a different animal. Springsteen’s political folk songwriting came long ago – in Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, both of which used folk music to make new and damning points about aspects of America. With The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen demonstrates how those earlier records were themselves part of a long tradition of folk culture, and he places himself somewhere between his own personal songwriting on the one hand, and America’s cultural history on the other.
And it sounds great.
It has been a long time since a Bruce Springsteen record has provoked such extremes of reaction from his fans, even before its release. His last album, Devils & Dust, wasn’t universally loved, but it was at least widely anticipated. Prior to that, The Rising’s combination of 9/11 reference and three-guitar rock attack ensured there was something good – though far from brilliant – for everyone. But We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions seems to have been the catalyst for an explosion of anger from a large number of fans who despair at the lack of original songwriting from Springsteen.
At the same time, there are those who, upon reading the press release, could hardly believe their luck. Here, at last, was the album which could prove what they’d been saying for years – that Springsteen was the natural heir to America’s folk tradition, handed down from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan and now onto their man. All Springsteen had to do was choose his songs well, sing them as maybe only he could, and through his research and performance, display his knowledge of that folk tradition. Then his place as a true inheritor of the country’s cultural roots would be assured.
I am in the latter camp. I am a huge fan of Springsteen’s songwriting – but I have never thought that was all he had to offer. Randy Newman can write songs. Joni Mitchell can write songs. What Springsteen has always offered on top of the songs is his charisma, his feeling, and his joy. In The Seeger Sessions, those characteristics become uncoupled from his own songs, but they don’t founder without their artistic base - if anything, they are given a happy freedom and a fresh sense of belonging, and they flourish.
Sure – in the wrong hands these songs could be campfire singalongs, fit for nothing more than a jamboree with a bunch of acoustic guitars accompanying assorted campers playing out a rustic version of a scene from Easy Rider. But their original exponents – whether writing or performing – knew what they were doing with the songs, and so does Bruce Springsteen.
The impression given in Springsteen’s own liner notes is of him sitting around inexpertly doodling around a bunch of old songs, backed by a wily crowd of veterans who pat him on the back and let him have his hour of folk authenticity. The reality is probably somewhat less goofy. That he added lyrics to some songs and claims most of the arrangements as his own are testaments to the fact that he shaped the content of this record very carefully. And although he protests that he didn’t have an ideology in mind when making the record, this doesn’t detract from the political message he selects. Rather than poignant, utopian anthems like Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Springsteen chooses Mrs. McGrath – a much more pointed song, about a returning soldier who has had both of his legs blown off by a cannonball. Never mind the flowers – what did they do to my body? This is Springsteen’s political reality, and it still rings true.
Musically, Springsteen sounds equally in control. From the very beginning of the first track, Old Dan Tucker, two things are obvious. The first is that he is having the time of his life – witness the raggedy count-in, try to picture him singing the songs you hear with anything other than a smile on his face (it is difficult), and listen to the way he shouts out instructions for solos and instrumental passages. The other thing is that Springsteen owns these songs. No doubt these are experienced folk musicians, and they create a sound that is both knowledgeable and dense (no surprise – the band is awash with guitars, fiddles, accordions, and everything else you’d hope a hootenanny band would contain). But Springsteen’s voice rises above the band. Now, making him sound louder than the band is easy enough, but actually what we have here is something deeper – his confidence is unquenchable and his charisma drives his voice forward; and the voice, in turn, shapes the sound of the band – not the other way round.
Clearly, for Springsteen, this album is about having fun while making good and meaningful music. Nothing else matters – he displays his knowledge of the folk tradition, but that is the man – it is hard to imagine him going into any project without knowing his brief. But even if by accident, in recording this album he has done a good deal to place himself alongside Bob Dylan as an important American folk artist. The Basement Tapes came first, and they may have contained plenty of original songwriting, but The Seeger Sessions is a different animal. Springsteen’s political folk songwriting came long ago – in Nebraska and The Ghost of Tom Joad, both of which used folk music to make new and damning points about aspects of America. With The Seeger Sessions, Springsteen demonstrates how those earlier records were themselves part of a long tradition of folk culture, and he places himself somewhere between his own personal songwriting on the one hand, and America’s cultural history on the other.
And it sounds great.
Labels: Bruce Springsteen
posted by Mike at 8:49 pm
1 Comments:
This is the best album Bruce has done for some time and what does it matter if he didn't write the songs himself? It is great, tuneful,joyous, meaningful music.
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